“Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share” … – Robert Plant
Lot of fur flying about this virus business.
We have seen finger pointing, heroism, speeches, hypocrisy, selflessness, treachery, and great loss. Loss of life, jobs, space, freedom, loss of confidence. Many have made a turn to God. A Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled “A Coronavirus Great Awakening?” begins
“Could a plague of biblical proportions be America’s best hope for religious revival? As the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, there is reason to think so.”
A Google or Bing search returns one piece after another spilling down the page about the significance of the pandemic and reactions of supplication and renewed turning to God. A number of these speak of churches who have adapted to the reality of our latest popular phrase, social distancing. Since we can’t meet in person, we meet online. We’ve had to rethink Hebrew’s admonition to “not forsaking our own assembling together” (Heb 10:25) and the early church practice “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship” (Acts 2:42) as maybe not necessarily in person, but online. One clever meme sums up the idea:
So what are we, as believers, left with? What’s our call to action? Let’s finish doing the other things the early church did, “devoting themselves… to prayer.” Gee. Didn’t see that coming. And there’s nothing new here.
But since many have extra time, alone, in our day because of social distancing, let’s take time to devote ourselves to prayer. It’s a discipline, we all know we should, why not, today, decide we’re going to rekindle our prayer life. And to help get started, rather than (as I often do) sit or kneel, mind wandering off to each random thought that invades my headspace, try a touch of structure to get our conversation with God rolling.
Agents from A.C.T.S.
The idea is taken from Greg Laurie of Harvest Church in Riverside. To help us in prayer, we can use a simple memory device to guide our prayers, the mnemonic ACTS. Each letter can be a part of prayer time:
Adoration
God is worthy of adoration and worship. We pray best when we acknowledge who He is, and our purpose, to bring Him honor glaory, praise, & adoration. Riff through Psalm 150, if you want to get an idea of the fervor and excitement the psalmist felt thinking about why he should adore our God.
Confession
This is no time to keep your sins secret. Praying with unconfessed sin is like getting dressed in you best to get an Xray. All kinds of passages talk about this. Mat 5:22-24 and 1 Peter 3:7 talk about hindered relationships hindering prayer, and the angst of David in Psalm 51 relieved after his confession to God over his treachery with Uriah & Bathsheba. Fess up, and get right again. `Nuff said.
Thanksgiving
Feeling crowded, dealing with pain? How about uncertainty, anxiety, want, and all the other cares of life? Yeah. me too. Jealous? Why don’t I have. . . ? Me too. Ouch. But I have so, so much to be grateful to God for. Let’s cut to the chase. Your (and mine) best times are ahead of you. Guaranteed. In blood. Precious blood. That’s cause for thanksgiving. And we both know many, many other things as well. A refresh of Psalm 100 is great reminder. Wouldn’t hurt to memorize that one, either, would it?
Supplication
A beautiful old-school word for asking God for something, isn’t it? Now that we’ve framed our relationship with God correctly, squared up with the Almighty over our sins, and cultivated a thankful heart, God would be delighted to hear the petition of His children, encouraging us to bring “everything to God in prayer.”
Let loose, let your passion for the lost, the sick, injured, those we ache over, all our personal needs & wants be sent right to the Throne room. Advocate powerfully for others. Let it fly, don’t hold back. And when we’re done, we’ll be confident that God has heard us, and the answer (or silence) is P E R F E C T for each request.
So let’s be not-so-secret agents from A.C.T.S. and a pray a storm up. It will change the world.
Starting with us.